MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE SCPR: ABOUT 41 MINUTES OF JOHNNIE A. MAIER, JR ON VIDEOTAPE!

Revised and Updated  (4:00 p.m.)

MASSILLON'S CLERK OF COURTS

TELLS YOU

HOW GREAT HE IS!

Regular readers of The Stark County Political Report know the history of SCPR blogs on Massillon's (or, should I say, Tuscarawas' Townships') Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.

Most politically involved Stark Countians are scared to death of Johnnie and therefore are generally loathe to cross him.

Johnnie became a political power in Stark County by good fortune from his perspective.

Every once in a while, a brave soul (LINK) will venture into those waters.  But such is indeed rare.  For there is likely a price to pay.

Accordingly, it has been up to yours truly to check the political power hungry Maier, Jr.

Of course, Johnnie, being the ultimate control person he is, keeps his distance from The Report and yours truly's probing questions.

Last night he was front and center in a rare in the public forum.

Usually he haunts the back rooms of political intrigue from which he can orchestrate getting persons in his thrall into Stark County elective office.

His political coup-d'-etat to date was getting his brother George T. Maier appointed and then elected Stark County sheriff in the unfortunate (for the Stark County public) circumstances of the well thought of elected in November, 2012 Mike McDonald being too ill to take office on January 7, 2013

Second, has been the election of Kathy Catazaro-Perry as mayor of Massillon over 24 years as mayor and political rival Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr.

He has had some close calls on both of this huge successes.

George came very close to not getting the appointment over a political unsophisticated former Stark County captain Louis Darrow (Maier won 92 to 84)  And George underwent a nearly two year ordeal of legal challenges before he eked out a narrow victory over Republican Larry Dordea.

It took a political goof on the part of Cicchinelli (good fortune for Maier in getting outraged Tuscarawas Township residents to go door-to-door for Maier's candidate) in attempting to annex real property on which Tuslaw High School sits to be in the opinion of the SCPR a critical factor in Kathy Catazaro-Perry's victory over Cicchinelli in the May, 2011 Democratic primary election.

And wouldn't you know it.

Cicchinelli made another "fortuitous for Maier" and his proxy as mayor (Catazaro-Perry) move in running for mayor as an "independent."

Catazaro-Perry almost lost the March, 2015 primary to neophyte political candidate J. David Ress.  A truly amazing political spectacle, to wit:

With Cicchinelli in the general election race, Catazaro-Perry won with 40% of the vote for her as compared to 60% of the vote going to Republican Lee Brunckhart who, despite having run against Catazaro-Perry in the November, 2011 general election, proved even less politically sophisticated and able than either Louis Darrow (re:  George T. Maier) or J. David Ress.

The way Maier, Jr. does math he was heard by yours' truly on election night by yours truly on terming Catazaro-Perry's 40% as compared to 60% against her as her doing a political ass kicking.

Wow!

An out-and-out goof by Maier, Jr was his support of Celeste DeHoff as a candidate for a similitude (i.e. a Republican indexed district in 2008; a Democratic indexed district in 1990 when Maier was elected) of his old Ohio House District from which he was term limited out of as of January 1, 2000.

DeHoff not only got pummeled in the 2008 election (LINK),
subsequent legal difficulties got her in some problems with the Ohio Supreme Court, to wit:

One has to wonder how reliable Maier, Jr's assessments of candidates/office holder is.

Not that long ago, his good friend and Massillon Municipal Court judge Eddie Elum got reprimanded by the Ohio Supreme Court for conduct unbecoming of a judge.  (LINK to Ohio Supreme Court case).  As part of the proceeding Maier, Jr. submitted a glowing testimonial in support of Elum.

Such was ironic to yours truly, given Elum's over-the-top reaction to the SCPR dealing with Massillon political matters (this blog is named The Stark County Political Report) in which Judge Elum embroiled himself  (LINK).

The Report clearly has a apology coming from Elum.  But knowing the judge, Hell would likely have to freeze over first.

Some folks are enamored with Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. and his take on political candidates and public officials, but the SCPR clearly is not.

The Report thinks that both his brother George as sheriff and his proxy Kathy as Massillon mayor are every bit as political as Johnnie is.

The Report recognizes that one does have to have a political side to get elected.

But to yours truly George and Kathy are way over the top on this score as is Johnnie A. Maier, Jr who is a former Stark County Democratic chairman who is chest deep in political machinations and intrigue in multiple Stark County political subdivisions.

Maier, Jr. is his own best public relations agent.

If the taxpayer supported website is an exercise in self-laudation ("The Honorable Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.), his appearance last night was an encore in-person self-promotion.

Even though the video (unedited) present below is about 41 minutes in length, it is a classic in self-promotion.

Maier goes back 16 years in comparing himself to his predecessor as a baseline of how much he has saved Massilon taxpayers.

In the time that the SCPR covered Massillon government and politics, it is apparent that some members of Massillon City Council chafe under the State of Ohio imposed via statute burden on Massillon taxpayers of paying from its general fund the bulk of support of both the clerk's office and for the courts themselves.

In one self-tribute, Maier, Jr. talks about benefiting Massillon taxpayers some $600,000 over 16 years and over $1M in another "how great I am" encomium.

Kind of like Canton soon-to-be ex-mayor William J. Healy, II blaming others (including former mayor Janet Creighton and the Ohio General Assembly) for Canton's financial difficulties going back 4, 5, 8 years and even decades  (e.g. prior Republican mayors) in casting the blame of his failures on others.

And, of course, recently re-elected by 40% of 100% of the total Massillon vote Kathy Catazaro-Perry does the same especially in castigating Frank Cicchinelli.

One could take Maier's self-laudation as being a "look what I have done for you" in ameliorating the burden.

But The Report for one is not buying.

Yours truly sees such as circular thinking of self-justification.

Let The Report have at Maier, Jr. one-on-one and see how well his "closed-loop" thinking/support artifice goes.

The Report's experience in life is that when one shamelessly self-promotes as Maier does in the accompanying video such is a cover for what that person knows in his/her heart-of-hearts a lot of insecurity.

Undoubtedly, his steadfast supporters will see it differently.

There are other parts of the SCPR provided Maier, Jr. video that make it for interesting viewing.

What should Massillon government's relationship vis-a-vis the police be in terms of how arrests/citations are done?

Council should tread lightly on approaching the Ohio General Assembly in correcting what some city councilpersons have long thought to be an unfairness.

And, of course, there is the Maier, Jr. fawning over council.

Probably more than one councilperson had to see the bootlicking as being a case of "ingenuity in the face, no?

For "icing on the cake," Maier, Jr. towards the end of his presentation patted himself on the back for not having, over his 16 years as clerk, Massillon City Council to court for an order mandating that his budget number be accepted.

What a magnanimous guy, no!

Undoubtedly, Maier, Jr. co-incidentally has done some good for Massillon and Stark County as the political power broker that he has positioned himself to be in.

However, the SCPR thinks "on balance" (LINK) is has been a negative factor in terms of taking care of himself and his political friends in the sense that everyday, taxpaying Massillonians and Stark Countians bear the brunt of his arbitrarily dispensing political patronage.

As the SCPR always does even from those public officials who think they are immune from being critiqued:   here is Maier speaking for himself; uncut, unedited!

AS PREDICTED BY SCPR: MAIER POLITICIZES STARK CO. SHERIFF DEPT IN SPADES!

As the Stark County Political Report sees it, neither Stark County Sheriff George T. Maier nor his brother Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. should be elected officials.

Stark County and Massillon voters, obviously not knowing the high degree of political paranoia that The Report thinks each of Maier brothers are afflicted with, have unwittingly placed the "bros" in positions of public trust from which they can - in pursuit of their personal political interests and objectives - inflict pressure on those who work for them to put personal political loyalty to them above the public interest.

The graphic above with its collection of Maier loyalists is an indication of what The Report thinks is required of one who wishes to prosper in public employment when the boss is either George or Johnnie.

Johnnie is a former Stark County Democratic Party chairman who many think still runs the party from behind the curtain is a sort of Wizard of Oz fashion who is the Massillon clerk of courts.

Both George and Johnnie, were it not for their political paranoia (which, unfortunately, is a common malady among politicians), are run-of-the-mill politico-government worker (i.e. nothing exceptional; merely journeyman-esque) in the sense of being able to do the basic functions of the offices they old.

But it seems to the SCPR that these two guys are so much into personal political loyalty that perhaps it really does seep down into the way they administer their particular offices to the point that "the personal loyalty factor" becomes the main thing and serving the public is an "oh! by the way" thing.

As an example of what in concrete ways loyalty to a Maier might entail, The Report shares with readers a story as told by Lawrence Township trustee Michael Stevens (running for re-election this coming November) tells when he was serving as the Ohio House Democratic Caucus appointee to succeed Johnnie as the-then state representative (on the brink of being term limited out) for the 56th (now, more or less the 50th) Ohio House District.

`

Stevens on a routine day in his office at the Ohio House was in the midst of a telephone call with a constituent.  While on telephone with the constituent, Stevens received a call from Maier, Jr.

Stevens' administrative aide came to him interrupting with the message that Johnnie was on the phone.

As it turns out, the aide knew the Johnnie A. Maier, Jr expectation whereas Stevens did not.  Naively, as it turns out, he thought the constituent was the priority.

Steeped deep in his belief that ordinary persons back home trumped the likes of Maier, Jr, Stevens told the aide to tell Johnnie that he would get back to him just as soon as the constituent telephone call ended.

After the constituent call ended, Stevens immediately called Maier, Jr. back.

Stepping outside the story, what do you SCPR reader think Maier, Jr's reaction was to having had to play second fiddle to a Stevens constituent and what's more a taxpaying citizen of his district?

Pick one:

____  Michael, what a terrific representative your are.  You have your priorities straight!

____  Michael,  when I call you you better damn well from here on out drop everything and ditch the  constituent and get on the phone with me!!

Anybody who knows Johnnie A. Maier, Jr knows the answer is the latter and definitely not the former.

Just one more story from Maier, Jr's days in the Ohio House.

Yours truly's daughter while a student at The Ohio State University was a page assigned to Johnnie's office but at the call of the general obligations of the House support administration.

Heidi tells stories of Maier putting her in positions of personal political loyalty to him opposed to her responsibility as an employee of the State of Ohio and by extension the taxpayers of Ohio.

On at least one occasion, she got herself with House administrative leadership.

The only redeeming thing about Johnnie is that he did come to her defense in the incident mentioned.

However, she should not have been put in that position in the first  place, no?

But that is what people who focus on personal political loyalty will do.

Heidi was most fortunate.  Mostly people like her get "thrown under the bus."

When George was elected sheriff, yours truly said that The Report expected George to pursue a course as the head of Stark County's countywide law enforcement apparatus which course could prove to be disastrous for the public's confidence in county government.

Stark County has already been through a "crisis of confidence" with the Stark County treasury beginning in April, 2009 which only ended with the-then treasurer Gary D. Zeigler (originally a Stark County Democratic Party appointee [1999] like George T. Maier [February, 2013]) retiring/resigning on October 19, 2011.

The context will undoubtedly be different, but the destabilizing effect on Stark County government will be just as profound if - as the SCPR thinks he will -  Sheriff Maier continues what yours truly believes is his course of action to totally and completely politicize employment with the Stark County sheriff's office to include an unstated/unwritten but clearly understood requirement of "personal political loyalty" to George T. Maier.

When George T. Maier (once appointed to the second in command in the Ohio Department of Highway Safety, The Report surmises through the political connection of brother Johnnie to former Democratic Ohio governor Ted Strickland) took office, The Report repeatedly chided him that he needed to make one of his first hires from among the plumbing trade inasmuch as the leaks to the The Stark County Political Report from within the bowels of the the county sheriff's office (on personnel matters) approaches the flood stage.

Today's blog is focused who some particulars on that front that George is reportedly up to.

But first why would the SCPR has concerns about George T. Maier having high-handed ways as an department of government administrator.

Readers should take a few minutes and read this (LINK) account from his days as number 2 in the Ohio Department of Highway Safety.

Now granted that was some time ago and one might argue that he has matured as Sheriff George T. Maier.

We should only wish.

If anything, The Report thinks Maier the sheriff has regressed.

Picking up on his needing a plumber thing as written above, reports that the SCPR receives from leakers from deep inside the sheriff's department, Maier now that he #1 and having been elected and therefore accountable to no one except the voters in the 2016 election indicate that his arrogance grows by the day.

Here are some the allegations being leveled at George T. Maier in terms of his administration of the sheriff's office:

•  A sergeant in the department seemingly because of his alleged political support of Maier has the sheriff's cell number and is thought to have parlayed such access into an "I'm untouchable" stance notwithstanding incidents which occurred during his supervision stint that were not dealt with by Maier for some three months.  
• Maier was reportedly told going back to September, 2014 that the rank-and-file deputies had no confidence in the leadership of the sergeant.
• The point is that "property political alignment" is suspected by some deputies as being the reason that the offending sergeant was not dealt with sooner.
•  Though Maier did post a job to be filled (a 25 year retiring employee) on a child abuse/sex offender investigator position and promised interviews; no interviews were conducted and Maier ended up - according to The Report's source - rehiring the retired investigator (retire/rehire which is contra a policy for Stark County government as promulgated by the Stark County commissioners),
• With respect to the SCPR's blog on Maier's plan to rent out spare jail space to Summit County this comment from an inside source:
•  I read your report today. HAHAHAHA!!!  Housing Summit County inmates. A JOKE!!!  We have NO ROOM NOW. Though our number might be under 500.You have to consider we have over 20 inmates on medical housing,then we have the mentally ill area (30,maybe at times more). You can't house mentally ill with violent offenders. These are things the public does not know about. NOT even sure IF the Sheriff himself knows. 
•  More on point with the tenor of this blog about the inordinate role that politics plays in George T. Maier's administration of personnel matters, take look at these observations:
• I've learned that it's very common for Sheriff Maier to flex his authority within the office.  My sources could not confirm what Maier said during his meeting, but it does not sound out of character for him.
•  It's well recognized within the Sheriff's Office, that specialized positions such as Evidence/Property Officer, Detective, Child Support Officer, Sex Abuse Investigator, School Resource Officer are assigned to loyal campaign supporters of Sheriff George Maier. 
• Example[s]:
•  Deputy Rick Stauffer was recently reassigned from the Inmate Transport Officer to County Detective.  Stauffer was such a proud supporter of George Maier, he used his antique fire truck to display Maier for Sheriff signs in several local parades.  
• Deputy John Von Spiegle who retired from the Stark County Sheriff's Office last year, was just REHIRED by Sheriff Maier as the Sex Abuse Investigator.  The same position he retired from last year.  Von Spiegle can be seen in several of parade photos from George Maier's campaign.  
• Deputy Laura Blackstock was just announced as one of two new Lake Local School Resource Officers.  Blackstock is currently in training on the Road Patrol Division.  So when she starts her new assignment as a School Resource Officer, she'll have three months of Road Patrol training/experience.  She was also a proud supporter of George Maier's campaign. 
• Deputy Mike Greene was rehired by Sheriff George Maier this year after he lost his job as Judge Belden's bailiff in Canton Municipal Court.  Greene's rehiring was expedited and bypassed the normal hiring process.  He was also a proud campaign supporter of George Maier, prior to him being rehired.  I'm learning from my sources that the "Friends-N-Benefits" list with Sheriff George Maier keeps growing longer and longer.   
•  Today it was passed on to me that 5 road patrol deputies put letters of request to be transferred to Jail Operations. UHM? This is due to position of property/evidence officer being given to an officer who has NO experience in such a position. Ask yourself why would they want to put there hard work in to solving a case an have the evidence/property not handled correctly for a conviction.
•  The following comments may harken back to George T. Maier's attitude as #2 in the Ohio Department of Public Safety: to wit
• It was mentioned at the union meeting [probably held on July 21st] the Sheriff has made it clear he will place WHO  he wants WHERE  he wants. Experience, seniority do not matter. 
• Our moral is at the lowest I have seen .When the moral issue was brought up at the union. A union board member stated that Major Stantz told the same union board member, moral is great he sees no issues. It is my opinion, Major Stantz only speaks to his fellow George T. Maier groupies.

It is interesting to see Stantz's name come up.

Stantz has seemingly to the SCPR replaced Derrek Loy has Maier's chief administrative and political enforcer with in the department.

Stantz used to out do himself in being "apparently" friendly to the SCPR in the early days of Maier's coming to 4500 Atlantic Blvd.  Of course, The Report knew what was at play and played the game with him.

Nowadays, Stantz just passes by as if he doesn't have a clue as to yours truly's identity.

Now that he has jumped from being Lt. Stantz to being Major Stantz, that is.

How disappointing for top level law enforcement official who drinks at the trough of Stark County taxpayers to think he can disrespect citizens on the obvious command of a politicized sheriff.

So there you have it Stark Countians.

You have made your choice and The Report thinks it is only a matter of time until "all Hell breaks lose" at the Stark County sheriff's office.

When daughter Heidi was the Statehouse she says Maier, Jr. would pester her about what yours truly thought of him and his public persona?

Well, Johnnie, why not ask me?

Clue to the answer.

Even back in those day it was clear to me that political paranoia was in full play with Johnnie.

And, it is a compliment that he knew intuitively that such

If anything, it has grown.

It appears that Johnnie being the older of the two brothers has passed this characteristic on.

And that is not a good thing for the citizens of Massillon nor those of Stark County!

CONLEY PUTS PRESSURE ON FOR STARK BOE "DEMOCRAT" MEMBERS FERRUCCIO AND SHERER, II TO BE RECUSED IN CICCHINELLI (AND BY IMPLICATION) BERNABEI CERTIFICATION DECISION

Next Wednesday, June 17, 2015 could be an interesting scene at the Stark County Board of Elections (BOE).

Normally, BOE post-filing-petitions certification sessions are pretty cut and dried.

Either a candidate obtained the minimum required signatures and the petitions were properly filled out and attested to or they weren't.

If they were, then the candidate goes on the ballot.

If they were not, then the candidate is denied ballot access as in case of Canton Board of Education candidate Eric Resnick in the 2011 election year cycle.

Of course, there is an opportunity to challenge in court a BOE candidacy non-certification finding as North Canton councilman Mark Cerreta successfully did in the 2013 election.

But mostly candidates or others do not challenge BOE certifications.

Accordingly, next Wednesday should be uneventful, unless, of course, Conley shows up and presses BOE Democratic members Ferruccio, Jr. and Sherer, II not to participate in any decision for reasons cited later on in this blog.

For 2015, there is already one challenge to the candidacy and a second expected.

However, the challenge (called a protest) is not on the routine basic matters of enough petition signatures or compliance with legal formalities of the petitions themselves.

Rather, in the case of Stark County Commissioner Thomas Bernabei (a well known, long time Democrat) and his quest to get on the November ballot as an "independent" challenge to incumbent Democrat Canton mayor William J. Healy, II; the question centers on his meeting residency requirements and whether or not he is making the switch from Democrat to "independent" in good faith.

Commissioners Creighton & Bernabei

(Creighton top Stark GOP supporter)

Ditto for former Massillon mayor Frank Cicchinelli.  He like Bernabei is a well known, lifelong Democrat who is attempting to unseat incumbent Democratic mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry who defeated him in the Democratic primary election of 2011 after he had been mayor for 24 years.

While having no residency problem, he is also susceptible to a good faith challenge on his switch over to "independent."

In his case, a formal protest likely will not be lodged until the BOE does its perfunctory thing and certifies him on the formalities next Wednesday.

In both cases, the Democratic members of the Stark BOE are likely to find justification for not certifying "former" Democrats Bernabei and Cicchinelli.

As for the Republicans, how they will vote on protests is unclear.

In Bernabei's case, the SCPR thinks the Republican BOE members are likely to vote to certify even in the face of a protest in view of the fact that the Stark GOP has not fielded a candidate for mayor and it is well known that Democrat Healy is loathed by Stark County Republican officialdom.

Moreover, the tie-breaker; namely, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, and his demonstrated "pro-ballot-access" (reference: the George T. Maier case), is likely to break a tie in favor of Bernabei.

Which determination, if it is in the offing, is likely to be challenged in the Ohio Supreme Court.

To sum up Bernabei's situation, he is likely to do well on the political front (as explained above) but not on the legal issues except that the Ohio Supreme Court is likely to uphold a BOE determination (as in Maier) as long as Husted cites a plausible rationale for have decided to certify.

Husted coming up with a plausible legal rationale could be problematic in the face of of Stark Dems/Ohio Dems' attorney Lee Plakas' excellent protest brief applying the Bernabei facts to Ohio's statutory scheme as interpreted by Ohio case law.

Moreover, there are legal (constitutional) arguments of "freedom of political association" (the "independent" candidacy question) and "freedom of movement" (the "residency" question) that favor Bernabei.

These points certainly will be the mainstay of Bernabei's legal counsel (J. Corey Colombo) of Columbus; one would think.

Those, however, the SCPR believes are beyond the pale of the BOE proceedings and will only prevail at the Ohio Supreme Court level.

In Cicchinelli's case, the SCPR surmises that he loses the political battle within the BOE framework anyway one cuts it.

Even if the Democrats are recused, it is hard to see the Republican members of the Board voting to certify him in the face of a protest being filed.

That vote is likely to be 2 - 0, if the Democrats are recused; 4 - 0, if they are not.

But an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court is likely to come out in favor of Cicchinelli both because he has done much more in advance of filing as an independent to disassociate himself from the "organized" Stark County Democratic Party than Bernabei.

Bernabei, on the other hand, was "up-to-his-ears," and "knee-deep" in organized Stark County Democratic Party/candidate activities to within days of filing his independent candidacy on May 4, 2015.

When is "all-is-said-and-done," the SCPR thinks it is likely that both Bernabei and Cicchinelli make it to the November ballot.

So the "fuss-and-feathers" about Democrat members Sam Ferruccio, Jr. and William V. Sherer, II being recused are kind of a political/legal skirmish that the SCPR doesn't think means much, if anything, in the ultimate outcome of these proceedings.

But Cicchinelli attorney Craig T. Conley does get rather creative in dealing with the argument that were Ferruccio and Sherer to be recused, there would be no quorum and therefore the protests could not be heard.



As the SCPR understands Conley's argument, if the two Democrats are recused because:

• they are members of the Stark County Democratic Party executive committee
• which voted to authorize the filing of BOE protests against the Bernabei and Cicchinelli candidacies
• Note:  the SCPR has learned that neither Ferruccio nor Sherer, II were present at that meeting authorizing the filing of protests,

then Secretary Husted could appoint temporary replacements or alternatively Ferruccio and Sherer could participate for quorum purposes but then abstain from participating on the certification determination question.

While in the cases at hand (Bernabei and Cicchinelli), the voting participation of Ferruccio and Sherer is not likely to make a difference in the outcome, Conley's effort is applauded by the SCPR.

For a conflict-in-interest free BOE membership deciding ballot questions is of critical importance in the integrity and the preservation of the "rule of law" over political party loyality considerations are of paramount importance in our American democratic-republican system of government.

BREAKING NEWS!!! CICCHINELLI & BERNABEI "LAWYERED UP" FOR FIGHT TO BE ON NOVEMBER BALLOT AS "INDEPENDENT."

UPDATED:  05/21/2015 at 5:15 p.m.

HEALY PREPARES FOR FIGHT, TOO!

Tom Bernabei retains Allen Schulman to represent him and William J. Healy, II retains Lee Plakas to represent him on the issue of whether or not Bernabei is certifiable as an "independent" candidate for mayor of Canton versus Democrat Healy.

Stark County Board of Elections to meet on June 17, 2015 at 08:30 a.m. to decide the question.


REPUBLICATION:  Originally published Wednesday afternoon at about 5:00 p.m.

UPDATED:  05/21/2015 AT 3:30 p.m.

WHEN IS CATAZARO-PERRY 

GOING TO GET LAWYERED UP?

BOE (MATTHEWS & MULLANE) RESPONSE



CONLEY'S LETTER TO BOARD OF ELECTIONS



The Stark County Political Report spoke former Massillon mayor (24 years) Frank Cicchinelli a couple of days ago about what he has in mind in terms of qualifying for certification on June 17th by the Stark County Board of Elections (SC-BOE) as an "independent" candidate for mayor against the woman (Kathy Catazaro-Perry) who defeated in the Democratic primary election of 2011 then easily defeated Republican Lee Brunckhart in the ensuing November election.

In the 2011 primary election, Cicchinelli did not campaign as he knew he should have.

Catazaro-Perry was then and remains the candidate of the Maier Massillon Political Machine put together by and run by former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. who is currently the Massillon Municipal Court clerk of courts.

Cicchinelli tells the SCPR that if he makes the ballot which he says he is confident he will, in the 2015 general election his primary opponent and her backers will see a much different Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr. than they saw in 2011.

The politics of his getting certified by the BOE may be the toughest part of his fight according to his attorney Craig T. Conley.

Conley a well known civic activist who gave the MMPM fits in their successful fight to get Johnnie's brother George T. Maier on the November, 2014 general election ballot which in won by a narrow margin against Republican Larry Dordea in what was a banner election year for statewide Republicans even in Stark County.

The SCPR has not seen ticket-splitting of the likes of the 2014 general election for many, many of a moon.

Not only did Maier pull a rabbit out of the hat in what should have been a Dordea victory, but so did Democrat Chryssa Hartnett in defeating Kasich's man (in the sense that Republican governor John Kasich appointed him in the first place in 2013 to replace retired Stark Court of Common Pleas judge V. Lee Sinclair [a Republican himself]) Curtis Werren.

Werren's race was markedly closer than Dordea's.  However, with his direct line to the governor who certainly was willing to and did try to help in Stark County proper, Werren's loss (and maybe Dordea's too) how utterly ineffective the organized Stark County Republican Party under the leadership of Board of Elections director Jeff Matthews is.

It is anybody's guess as how the Republican's BOE members Braden and Cline will vote on the Cicchinelli certification question.

Does anyone think that Dems' members Ferruccio and Sherer, Jr. would dare vote for certifying Cicchinelli if it became obvious to them that doing so would be politically incorrect?

In the contesting of certification of George T. Maier to qualify to be on the November, 2014 general election ballot, the MMPM's mantra was "let the voters decide."

Just call the SCPR cynical about the MMPM, but The Report has this sneaking suspicion that Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. et al will not be encouraging Dem BOE members Ferruccio and Sherer, Jr. to vote for Cicchinelli's certification.

Look for the "let the voters decide" refrain to be missing from lips of the Maier faction of the Stark County Democratic Party on the Cicchinelli certification question.

If the Republicans do vote to certify Cicchinelli, it is near certain that Republican secretary of state Jon Husted will break a tie for certification.

Otherwise, Conley will have to win for Cicchinelli on the legal front.

And he says that Cicchinelli has the case law in his favor.

BREAKING NEWS! FORMER DEMOCRAT SHERIFF SWANSON TO ENDORSE REPUBLICAN DORDEA FOR STARK COUNTY SHERIFF!

The Stark County Political Report has learned that the broken glass of the Stark County Democratic Party will become scattered shards with the impending "press release" later today by former Democratic Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson that he endorses Republican Larry Dordea over fellow Democrat George T. Maier.

Swanson, as captured in the photo above by the SCPR with former Stark County sheriff department Captain Lou Darrow (now retireat a Stark County Council of Governments (SCOG) meeting on November 12, 2013, just days after the Ohio Supreme Court removed Stark County Democratic Party Central Committee appointee George T. Maier (02/05/2013) from office as "unqualified" by the Ohio Supreme Court on November 6, 2013.

A Swanson filed quo warranto on February 12, 2013 was the basis for the November 6, 2013 decision.

Swanson and Democratic Stark County prosecutor John Ferrero (a former chairman of the Dems) opposed Maier in supporting Darrow on February 5th and again on December 11, 2013 when the Stark Dems once again appointed Maier.

At the February meeting Darrow received 84 votes compared to Maier's 92.  In December, there were still 66 Democratic precinct committee members who were willing to face down the Maier Massillon-based political machine.

Long term Stark County political observers were stunned at the closeness of the February vote.

Had the vote been by secret ballot, many observers think that Darrow would have won.

There are those who think that Maier's brother Johnnie, Jr (a former Dems' chairman) hatched the "open to public scrutiny" vote change in the local Democratic Party bylaws justified by an argument that central committee members are "elected" officials and therefore are obligated to vote out-in-the-open.

While the SCPR agrees with the political theory behind the "out-in-the-open" vote, The Report does not buy into the notion that Gonzalez and Johnnie A. Maier, Jr are "transparency-fostering" party leaders.

The Report thinks that Gonzalez and Maier, Jr will shift with the wind depending on their personal political interests.

As far as the SCPR is concerned, there has never been a definitive answer by the Ohio Supreme Court as to whether or not Maier is currently qualified under relevant Ohio statutes to be sheriff.

And the possibility remains that should he be elected on November 4, 2013, Maier will once again face a quo warranto action like that initiated by Swanson on February 12, 2013 that could keep the Stark County sheriff's office in a state of flux.

With Swanson's endorsement, Dordea - who the SCPR thinks already has an advantage in that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate (FitzGerald) self-destructed and therefore Democrats across-the-board are in for a real shellacking in less than two weeks - picks up another advantage with dissident Democrats who look to Swanson and Prosecutor John Ferrero for leadership.

Ferrero has not, so far as the SCPR knows, endorsed Dordea.  However, it is hard to imagine that he would be telling anybody that he thinks it is okay to vote for Maier after his (Ferrero) being humiliated on February 5th by then Stark County Dems' chairman Randy Gonzalez for having submitted an affidavit expressing his assessment that Maier was not qualified under Ohio law to be sheriff.

To repeat, the Ohio Supreme Court vindicated Ferrero's opinion on November 6, 2013.

George Maier was removed as the Stark County Democratic Party appointed sheriff.

Though The Report thinks Dordea is disadvantaged in that he is a classy guy who runs his political campaign at a very high moral level as compared to the political "rough and tumble" Maiers (to be nice about them); it could be that the "stars are aligning" for him and the rift within the Stark County Democratic Party in combo with the coming Republican tide will put him over the top on November 4th.

SWANSON'S ENDORSEMENT

After careful consideration I have decided I cannot remain silent any longer concerning the Sheriff's race. Having spent the last forty years of my life dedicated to serving the citizens of Stark County and for fourteen of those years you trusted me as  your elected  Sheriff (1999-2013), I must speak out.

There is only one qualified candidate appearing on the November ballot, Larry Dordea. I cannot believe the audacity of the Democrat candidate, who was found to have illegally occupied the office of Sheriff by the Ohio Supreme Court. 

I implore you not to be deceived by the rhetoric and untruths being shared by Mr. Dordea's opponent. 

There is only one candidate appearing on the ballot who truly meets all the necessary qualifications. That candidate is Larry Dordea.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. 
-- Sir Edmund Burke  1729-1797     

Tim Swanson retired

Stark County Sheriff

Tim Swanson 

OH! HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN FROM "BACK IN THE DAY?"

Circa 2006, 2007, & 2008, former Stark County state representative Johnnie A. Maier, Jr was "at the top" of his political game.

During his stint as Stark Dems chairman (2003 through 2009), the Dems managed to capture every Stark County-wide (non-judicial) elected office.

He must have had a premonition that "all Hell was going to break loose" as he resigned as party chairman and left his successor and prime member of his personal political loyalty group; namely, Randy Gonzalez, to "pick up the pieces" as what local civic activist Craig T. Conley termed as being Zeiglergate broke loose on April 1, 2009.

Since then:

• Zeigler resigned/retired in an agreement with Stark County commissioners on October 19, 2011, 
• In 2012 Republican Richard Regula (in a major political surprise defeated by Democrat Todd Bosley in 2006) reclaimed his commissionership in replacing Democrat Pete Ferguson (elected in 2008 but who decided not to seek reelection)
• In 2010, Republican Janet Creighton easily defeated Maier/Gonzalez political confidant Steven Meeks (appointed by the Dems in 2007 to replace Tom Harmon [resigned in 2009]),
• In 2010, Bosley
• who along with Harmon [appointed by the Dems to replace Strickland administration appointee [lottery commission] and therefore former commissioner Gayle Jackson [2007],
• voted in December, 2008 to "impose" a 1/2 cent sales tax on Stark Coutians,
• and, therefore, apparently concluding that he could not win reelection as commissioner instead ran for state representative, the 50th District, a suffered a massive political defeat
• In 2010, Democrat Stark County auditor who was apparently thought by Stark County voters to be too politically close to Zeigler and did not do enough to raise alarms that "all may not be well" in the Stark County treasury headed by Zeigler, lost in convincing fashion to Republican Alan Harold,

So there you have "a thumbnail sketch" of how the Stark County political empire that Johnnie A. Maier, Jr had worked so hard to create had come crashing down.

Maier got his start back in 1988 when he had the good fortune "be in the right place, at the right time."  Stalwart Republican icon "Red" Ash (the, at the time, 49th House District, which became the 56th and then the 50th) had run into legal troubles and Maier was there "to pick up the pieces."

Over his years of chairman and a Massillon clerk of courts, Maier worked equally hard - if not more so - to develop a cult-like following of his personal political aspirations, to wit:

He had come home (Massillon area) from "the high reaches" of Columbus where he fraternized with the all-powerful Vern Riffe, Jr. (Speaker of the House 1975 - 1995) and learned "the art of cultivating and mastering" political power.

Many think Riffe used political power for the public good whereas there are those who think that student Johnnie, Jr applies it to his personal interests.

One of the devices of governance that the Republicans used in 1992 to wrest power from te Democrats was to support voter passage of term limits in Ohio.

Under the term limits legislation, representatives were limited to eight (8) consecutive years in office.

Accordingly, Maier, Jr had to find a more secure and nesting place and in a show of what was to come from this disciple of Vern Riffe, he put a political power move on fellow Democrat Edward L. Radel, Jr and ousted him as clerk of Massillon Municipal Court earlier in 1999.

Maier went on to defeat Republican Richard Reichel by an overwhelming majority in 1999 general election.

All of the foregoing is to demonstrate that Maier is now "on life support" to salvage what remains of his Stark County based political empire.

And that, folks, is his "all-out, all consuming" effort to get his brother George (who he likely got Ted Strickland to appoint as assistant director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety) elected as Stark County sheriff.

A victim of the Maier obsession with getting his brother elected may be "top-gun" prosecutor Chryssa Hartnett.

Chryssa works for Stark County prosecutor John Ferrero (who along with former sheriff Tim Swanson have worked against George becoming sheriff, appointed and/or elected).

The SCPR believes that the Maiers are soaking up nearly all the financial resources that Stark Dems can raise and that Hartnett may not be able to garner enough campaign funds to get her message out to the Stark County voting public that she is - so the SCPR thinks - is vastly more qualified to be judge of the Stark County Court of Common Pleas that Republican Curtis Werren.

Before being appointed by Republican governor John Kasich to a court vacancy,  Werren was president of the Stark County chapter of the American Red Cross.

Republican Larry Dordea who ran a, more or less, "gentlemens' campaign" when he ran in 2008 against incumbent sheriff Tim Swanson (who is now on the outs with the Maiers), is now in, what he says (as interpreted by the SCPR) is - to be kind to the Maiers, not that they deserve it - a "political hardball" fight in its harshest form with George (Link to blog detailing Dordea's accusations, implied and otherwise).

But Dordea needs to understand, this may be Johnnie's "Custer's Last Stand."  That is to say, electing George sheriff.

For next year, it might be that his political creation Kathy Catazaro-Perry, mayor of Massillon, whose election in 2011 Maier engineered over long time Maier political foe and two decades plus mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr, will be defeated for a second term if she chooses to run.

Even with Catazaro-Perry's election in 2011, Maier showed he was slipping in that, while he was focusing on Catazaro-Perry's mayoralty quest, the Democrats lost control of Massillon City Council.

For those who do not know, Massillon is staunchly Democratic.

Not to be forgotten is Maier's "all-out" sponsorship of Celeste DeHoff for state representative in his, more or less, old District.

He prevailed on then Governor Ted Strickland (who, recognized Johnnie to be the first county chairman to endorse him in the Democratic primary), former U.S. Senator John Glenn, Senator Sherrod Brown, and then-Ohio treasurer Richard Cordray to come to Canal Fulton to campaign for DeHoff.

Since then, DeHoff has fallen on hard times.

But she was and out-and-out Maier loyalist.  And that appears to be all that matters to Johnnie and George.

In 2012, perhaps, Johnnie's closest political ally; namely, Judge Edward Elum of the Massillon Municipal Court was disciplined by the Ohio Supreme Court.

In a rare display of Johnnie A. Maier, Jr loyalty to anyone other than himself, so the SCPR thinks, he did submit a letter in support of Elum's quest to avoid discipline by the high court.

The SCPR thinks Dordea may have seen nothing yet compared to "what is yet to come."

When the political end comes for Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., he will go down - not in a whimper - but in a thunderous crash.

There will be great wailing and gnashing of teeth with Maier, Jr and his cult of followers.

But Maier's political demise might not be yet.

It all depends on the November 4, 2014 outcome between brother George and Dordea.

That's "how high the stakes are" in this election!

POLITICAL CONNECTIONS "COUNT FOR 'EVERYTHING'" IN STARK COUNTY & POLITICAL SUBDIVISION GOVERNMENT? ESPECIALLY MASSILLON!?

SCPR Note:  material presented in this blog in graphic format on issue of "whether or not to hire" has been "excerpted" for format purposes (i.e. to make more readable in blog format) and for brevity sake which is to say to include what the SCPR thinks is pertinent information.

The seeds for a political controversy to take hold were planted when the Massillon Mayor Kathy Catzaro-Perry administration on June 23, 2014 hired Dwan Gordon-St. John as the city's parking enforcement officer and coupled it with a part time position in the city income tax department to make it a full time position with full benefits.

Earlier in the month (June 16, 2014), Massillon City Council had authorized funds to hire a parking enforcement officer, but as can be seen from the following extracts from Massillon government records, the Kathy Catazaro-Perry administration made the St. John hire a "full time" hire by combining the council authorized parking enforcement job with one in the income tax department (a vacancy having recently have been created by the departure of an employee).

As the SCPR sees it, to expand on the opening paragraph of this blog, the controversy developed because: 

• the expansion of the parking enforcement job into a full time position without the mayor  having indicated to council her "apparent" plan to use council's approval in the way of joining it with a part time version of the income tax vacated job to create St. John's full time position,
• the full time job would, of course, include benefits, which generally means an increased expenditure of about 1/3rd the base hourly rate
• A SCPR example:  If a employee has a $10.00 per hour rate on a full time position, the total expense to the employer when calculating in the cost of benefits (retirement, health care, workers compensation, unemployment insurance and the like) would likely bring the hourly rate in terms of city expense to about $13.00 plus per hour
• Massillon is currently in fiscal emergency (likely as a consequence of the mayor's initiative with the Ohio State of Auditor Office) and can ill-afford the extra financial burden of a seeming "manufactured" need for the creation of a full time position that smacks of possibly having "political connectedness" underpinnings.

Ms. Gordon-St. John landed a job with the Strickland administration in November, 2007, to wit:  (per her resume)

Communications Information Officer

Bureau of Workers Compensation - November 2007 to August 2010

Duties include monitoring day-to-day operations regarding Injured Workers. I was responsible for transforming HR from a strategic role to an administrative role. I was a part of the Senior Management Team - thus being responsible for conducting current existing HR Policies and finding glitches to revamp what was NOT working for the Agency as a whole. I re-organized and re-developed business plans to update policies and procedures when needed. In addition, I handle all Attorneys, Doctors and Politicians for the agency. I was responsible for all communications and requests from any source requesting said information and was also responsible for handling Agency EEO Issues. I manage the largest team in the office of 500 employees' which was the second largest Worker's Comp Office in the State. I was also responsible for communicating with the Industrial Commission (IC) - preparing reports and gathering evidence regarding Legal Issues and Appeal Hearings and Leading team meetings.

Taking Ms. Gordon-St. John's account of the significance of the Communications Information Officer position to be accurate, one would think that her appointment to the job was approved at the highest levels of the Strickland administration and therefore is evidence that she is - as she asserts - "very politically connected."

If she lacks political connection in her own right, she certainly has them in spades in being the wife of Deametrious.

Readers have read a number of SCPR blogs wherein The Report went into great detail about husband Deametrious' political involvement in Stark County politics.

He is a former Stark County Board of Elections appointee by the Stark County Democratic Executive Committee (2013) who was a critical factor in the decision making process whereby Johnnie A. Maier, Jr brother George T. Maier was allowed to be on November's ballot in the Stark County election to fill out Mike McDonald's term as county sheriff.

St. John as a Democratic central committeeman voted twice (February 5, 2013 and December 11, 2013) to appoint Maier to serve as sheriff until this November's election when McDonald (sheriff-elect from the November, 2012 election) was unable to take office because of what turned out to be a terminal illness.

Dwan Gordon St. John was present at a Board of Elections hearing on a challenge to George T. Maier being qualified under R.C. 311.01 to be a county sheriff.  Deametrious voted to reject the challenge.

Deametrious has a political consulting business and he along with Dwan were earlier this year the recipients of expenditures from the Coalition for Greater Cleveland's Future.

Deametrious has been a key figure in the Stark County Black Caucus.

Deametrious St. John hails from Cleveland.  At one time he says he was involved in Cleveland politics when George Forbes was in his heyday.

Undoubtedly, the St. Johns have other political connections that the SCPR is not aware of or does not recall at the moment.

Suffice it to say, it is quite believable that Dwan has the political connections and clout to impress Catazaro-Perry and the Massillon Maier Political Machine that that criterion in and of itself is enough to justify to them that it would be a wise thing for them within Stark County Democratic Party political life to find a place for her in Massillon city government.

Who can forget the outrageous outburst of Her-Highness when Massillon city councilman-at-large Milan Chovan (a Republican) raised questions about the hire.



The SCPR believes the "racist/sexist" charge was:

• a calculated "get ahead of the critics" political gambit 
• put together by Catazaro-Perry, her political godfather Johnnie A. Maier, Jr (a former Stark County Democratic Party chairman) and his political protege R. Shane Jackson, Stark Dems' political director
• designed to serve "as a smokescreen" to deflect suspicion and concomitant criticism that the Gordon-St. John hire was grounded in politics

The Report thinks that the St. John hire likely was due to her self-described being (her exact words in her resume) "Very Politically Connected."  (see in graphic below, highlighted in the color blue for emphasis)

There is suspicion galore that the Catazaro-Perry as mayor of Massillon hires for city jobs primarily on the basis of political connections and does very little, if any, posting of positions so that general tax paying public has an opportunity to be considered for city of Massillon employment.

Moreover, it appears that doing background checks on prospective employees is not a part of the administration's hiring process.

And it needs to be pointed out that Catazaro-Perry is not alone in Stark County in being thought in Stark County government circles as being susceptible to making primarily political hires.

The SCPR has written quite a few blogs over the past six years plus fingering a number of county and political subdivision elected officials as being suspected taking care of the politically connected with taxpayer supported public positions and the general public having had no chance whatsoever to apply for the jobs; let alone actually get hired.

Whether it is Republican Stark County treasurer Alex Zumbar, Republican Stark County auditor Alan Harold, Democrat Stark County recorder Rick Campbell or Democratic Canton Municipal Court clerk of courts Phil Giavasis doing the hiring, the SCPR thinks that it should be unacceptable to the Stark County public for hires to be made on seeming political connectedness.

But Catazaro-Perry probably stands out in the public perception - because of her owing her own election as mayor of Massillon to the Maier/Jackson Massillon Political Machine and her seeming inability to govern without chapter and verse guidance from Maier, Jr and Jackson - as being the most political of all Stark County elected officials.

Other names brought up to the SCPR as conjecture that "political connections" was a primary reason for being a Catazaro-Perry hire include:  Safety Director Al Hennon (a close friend to the Maiers, going back many years), Administrative Assistant Larry St. Jean (nephew of former Stark County Dems chairman Randy Gonzalez), Administrative Assistant Margaret Elum (wife of Massillon Municipal Court judge Eddie Elum, a confidant of Johnnie A. Maier, Jr [JAM]), Building Department employee David Maley (husband of JAM administrative assistant Tammy Maley) and, of course, George T. Maier, the current Stark County Democratic Party appointed county sheriff, as safety director as among the very first hires when Catazaro-Perry became mayor of Massillon on January 1, 2012.

And there are a number of others that readers of the SCPR think were hired primarily because of political connections to Maier, Jr and Jackson.

It is not that folks with political pedigree are by that factor unqualified to do the job they are hired for.

There is ample evidence that folks with a political connectedness as a background and therefore are suspected as being employed primarily because of the connections go on to do workmanlike job performance if not above average work.

The rub is that these are public jobs funded by taxpayer dollars that the general public should have access to.  Moreover, nobody should be hired in a public position without having been vetted.

The Report did ask for records evidencing posting on the St. John hire.

Here is the exchange between the SCPR and administration official Ken Koher:

RE: Public records request (PRR)

        Kenneth Koher, Jun 30

To:  Martin Olson
        City Law Director

Good Afternoon,

The city is not in possession of any documents responsive to your request.  We can’t produce records that we do not have.  [SCPR COMMENT INSERTION:  In other words, position was not posted, not advertised to the general taxpaying public]
Kenneth Koher
Records Compliance Officer

...

From: Martin Olson [mailto:tramols@att.net]
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 2:21 PM
To: Kenneth Koher
Subject: Re: Public records request (PRR)

...

One question I forgot to ask, was this job posted for the general public to have an opportunity to fill it?

If not, why not?

If, as it appears to some, St. John is taken by the Massillon voting public as being primarily "a political connections hire," it may turn out in the end to be a political disaster for Catzaro-Perry, JAM and Jackson.

It is less than a year away from the May, 2015 Democratic primary election for the Democratic voters of Massillon to choose whether or not Kathy Catazaro-Perry will continue on for another four years as mayor.

As the SCPR sees it, making a racist/sexist (the latter of which is interesting and inasmuch as five women are members of Massillon City Council (Republicans Sarita Cunningham-Hedderly, Nancy Halter; Democrats Andrea Scassa, Megan Starrett and Michelle Del-Rio Keller) may well backfire on the mayor come the primary.

But no way.

Maier, Jr in in the opinion of the SCPR is infected with political bravado to a degree far superior to any other Stark County political figure, certainly among the current crop, and, maybe, going back through the entire political history of Stark County.

The Report sees him as a "power and might" politician who bullies his way towards realizing his political objectives.

That Steve Okey, a Canton attorney, has gotten involved in the Massillon fray is no surprise to the SCPR.

He seems, when he dons the robe of being a political figure, to The Report to share Maier, Jr's propensity to politically "bowl people over" like they are "ten pins" rather than living human beings.

Okey is the appointee of the Stark County Democratic Party Central Committee (SCDP) Central Commtee (CC) as president of Alliance City Council (April 30, 2014).

The Report thinks that some political strong arming likely got him the nod as the appointee over fellow Alliance Democrat Sue Ryan.

In what the SCPR thinks was a major political miscalculation, in his first meeting as president, Okey tried to force a change in the way Alliance City Council votes (SCPR Link).

He failed in that quest and The Report is being told that he has apparently learned a lesson in Alliance in that he is acting much more like a number of the Alliance councilpersons think a council president should conduct him/herself.

The SCPR brings Okey into today's blog because of a Massillon Independent report on Thursday that he is representing Ms. St. John's legal interests.

She filed a violation of civil rights complaint (racial discrimination) with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission as of July 21, 2014, two weeks to the day that Massillon's council voted to defund the parking enforcement position.

However, his role as legal counsel, is not The Report's primary interest.

The SCPR considers Okey to be one of the most if not the most politically active attorneys in all of Stark County.

Not particularly "politically astute" though.

Okey, a former member of the Alliance City Council before his recent appointment as president, not long ago sued Alliance over the voting procedures that council had employed in certain instances (which, interesting enough, Okey himself has participated in while still a councilman).  The lawsuit has been dropped.

He tried to make himself out to the SCPR as being a champion of political sunshine in government.  And that may be.  But The Report thinks his primary purpose in the Alliance situation was to embarrass Alliance councilman Larry Dordea who is the Republican November election opponent to guess who?

You've got it!

None other that George T. Maier.

Is he a part of the Maier/Jackson Massillon Political Machine machinations, whatever they may be?

Ya have to be believe he is, don't ya?

The Report does not see the Massillon Catazaro-Perry administration/city council flak over the Gordon-St. John hire as being a legal fight but as an extension of the continuing political battles that have been the hallmark of the mayor/council relationship.

The SCPR agrees with those who think that St. John's OCRC complaint will not succeed.

What it will do, The Report thinks, is keep the mayor's racism/sexism allegation front and center in Massillon politics and likely undermine her chances to be reelected mayor.

One would think that the political geniuses who the SCPR thinks may have put Catzaro-Perry up to the racist/sexist thing would have, by now, figured out that this gambit is not going to fly and have the maneuver slink off into obscurity hopefully to be forgotten by May, 2015.

Take a look at Massillon's demographic numbers on race/gender:

It could be that some voters might buy the mayor's argument that race was a factor in the decision to defund the parking enforcement position, given that only two council members of ten (including the presidency) are African-American.

But the SCPR thinks that most of the voters will agree with The Report that the defunding racial allegation is grounded in political gamesmanship, and, if anything, voters might well punish the mayor in May, 2015 for having made what they think to have been politically motivated allegations.

Should she survive the Democratic primary, The Report thinks it is likely she will face Republican Ward 6 councilman Ed Lewis, IV November's general election.

And in that election she will have to face up to the entire Massillon community; not just Massillon's Democrats.

While the SCPR does not buy the racist tag the mayor tried to put on Councilman Chovan and by implication on all those who did not vote her way; council's vote: just looking at the racial makeup of council

• the Catazaro-Perry/St. John allegation might be bought "on the face of the racial make up numbers disparity" by those who want to think the worst of those councilpersons voting to defund,
• the "sexist" allegation is way out there in "left field somewhere" in terms of council being sexists when a majority of council is guess what?  

Female!

To the SCPR, the sexist allegation is pretty clear indication of "the stretch" (i.e. throw everything in, including the kitchen sink) that the Catazaro-Perry/Maier Massillon political cabal was into in apparently formulating the administration attack on the voting majority of council.

But to reiterate, the SCPR thinks the attempted racist tag is a "red herring" also.

In short, the tussle over the Gordon-St. John hire is part of the ongoing struggle between council and the mayor as to who is in charge of Massillon city government.

It is obvious that the mayor and the voting majority of council do not trust each other.

And it could be that council members have looked at the public trail that Dwan Gordon-St. John has left out there on the Internet and in publicly available public records and question the basis on which - in light of the overall information - Mayor Catazaro-Perry, if not based on political considerations made the hire.

The SCPR has not read nor heard reasons why the mayor thought Gordon-St. John was a good hire for Massillon.

Of course, The Report hasn't seen nor heard heard her vouching the merits of her many hires, other than "glittering generalities."

Since the mayor has made the Gordon-St. John's initial hire an issue with her racists/sexists allegation, doesn't she have an obligation to tell the Massillon public what in her resume and public record (Internet based and otherwise) recommends her for city of Massillon employment?

Here is Massillon's record of her current position of her current hire: (note:  July 21, 2014, the day she filed her Ohio Civil Rights Commission complaint against the City of Massillon)

First of all, Gordon-St. John's submitted resume:  (an extract)

What apparently was not part of the the consideration of the Catazaro-Perry administration of whether or not to hire Gordon-St. John was the number of listings for her on the Stark County Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) website, the federal bankruptcy court for Northern Ohio and the executive clemency branch of the Ohio Adult Parole Authority.

At least, if the administration knows about these matters and considered them, it did not indicate such to the SCPR in The Report's employment application public records request with regard to Ms. Gordon-St. John.

If the administration has not troubled itself to have at a minimum Massillon Police Department check of a prospective employee (not only Gordon-St. John but all new hires, no matter whom) as former mayor Frank Cicchinelli tells the SCPR his administration did without fail, then shame on the Catazaro-Perry administration and its its failure in its fiduciary duty to protect the public interest.

If the administration does have information that some might deem to be negative in a particular hiring situation, then it owes the public an explanation as to why a given hire was made notwithstanding such information.

These points apply not only to the Catazaro-Perry administration but to all Stark County-based units of government.

The SCPR does not think that merely because a person has a troubled past that such does in and of itself disqualify that person from public employment.

However, the taxpaying public in entitled to know that political considerations are not short-circuiting the employment vetting process.

One of the richest experiences (in the sense of seeing political sausage made) the writer of The Stark County Political Report has ever had has been rubbing shoulders with the power brokers of Stark County politics and government as a candidate for office in 2002/2004.

One particular breakfast fundraiser in the Fall of 2004 stands out.

The "good ol' boys" (mostly boys, there may have been a girl or two) were sitting around at table downing eggs, bacon and orange juice and, in general, having "a laugh-filled, back slapping time" reminiscing on political "war stories."

One of the stories had to do with a person in need of a job who as a politically active citizen was giving a certain Stark County office holder fits.

Solution to the problem?

Hire the person into a public, taxpayer supported job.

End of the person being a problem!

"Knowing" guffaws filled the room.

The SCPR believes and has written that there are many other scenarios of how all too many of Stark County's elected officials seemingly use your and my tax dollars to solve their particular political-based hiring needs.

From early in the days of this blog's existence, the SCPR has been writing about this all too common phenomenon.

To say it again, major damage is done to the public perception of fairness in government when politically based/motivated hires occur in that there is no "posting of the position" inviting the general "taxpaying" public to apply. 

In an incremental but sustained fashion, those elected officials who promote, condone or "look the other way" on such hirings turn out to be "their own worst enemy" in terms of undermining public confidence in the fairness of our system of government and thereby make their own jobs more difficult in the sense that they feed the growing cynicism of the public.

And, of course, a failure by public officials to do thorough background checks can and should come back to haunt an offending official.

Let's hope that with all the political connectedness hirings that seem to be going on in Stark County government that one or more do not end up costing the taxpayers because the discoverable was not subjected prudent due diligence discovery processes.

While, perhaps, an offending official will lose his/her job; in the end it likely will be the tax paying public who get left holding the bag.

And thusly the public's distrust of government and "playing politics" public officials will continue to grow.

The overall Massillon hire situation, the SCPR thinks, reeks of "political connections count for everything."

And in such a hiring process the tax paying public gets counted out!